First Same-Sex Couples Wed in Chile

Pictured: newlyweds Jaime Nazar (left) and Javier Silva
ADVOCATE: “It’s something we didn’t think could happen,” Javier Silva observed as the nation's marriage equality law went into effect Thursday.

Javier Silva and Jaime Nazar have become the first same-sex couple to marry legally in Chile.

The men wed Thursday in a civil ceremony in a Santiago suburb as the nation’s marriage equality law, approved last year, went into effect.

“Being the first couple to get married in Chile for us is an honor, something to be proud of,” Silva said after the ceremony, according to Reuters. “We did it! It’s something we didn’t think could happen.”

The two have been together for seven years and have two children. They had been in a civil union for three years. Civil unions in Chile conferred many of the rights of marriage, but some were lacking, including the right to legally adopt children. » | Trudy Ring | Friday, March 11, 2022

Marriage Made Easier for Same-sex Couples
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: THE federal government will help Australian same-sex couples marry in countries where gay marriage is legal by issuing them with documents currently available only to heterosexuals.

In several nations that allow gay marriage, including Portugal, Spain, Norway and South Africa, a person must produce a Certificate of No Impediment, which proves they are at least 18, unmarried and that there is no other barrier to them taking part in a marriage ceremony.

The Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, will announce today that from February 1 same-sex couples will be able to apply for the certificates. » | Dan Harrison | Friday, January 27, 2012

Canadians and Britons Are More Accepting of Same-sex Couples than Americans
SAN DIEGO GAY & LESBIAN NEWS: A comprehensive three-country survey on attitudes towards homosexuality reveals that Canadians and Britons are more inclined to support the legal recognition of same-sex couples than Americans.

The online survey of representative national samples of 1,003 Canadian adults, 1,002 American adults and 1,980 British adults shows that younger generations are clearly more accepting of same-sex relations. However, the poll also confirms that younger Americans — born between 1980 and 1995 — are more conservative than their Canadian and British counterparts in all matters related to homosexuality. >>> SDGLN Staff | Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Gay U.S. Diplomats to Receive Equal Benefits
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Regulations that denied same-sex couples same rights as straight diplomats are ‘unfair and must end,' says Clinton

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will soon announce that gay American diplomats will be given benefits similar to those that their heterosexual counterparts enjoy, U.S. officials said Saturday.

In a notice to be sent soon to State Department employees, Ms. Clinton says regulations that denied same-sex couples and their families the same rights and privileges that straight diplomats enjoyed are “unfair and must end,” as they harm U.S. diplomacy.

“Providing training, medical care and other benefits to domestic partners promote the cohesiveness, safety and effectiveness of our posts abroad,” she says in the message, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

“It will also help the department attract and retain personnel in a competitive environment where domestic partner benefits and allowances are increasingly the norm for world-class employers,” she says.

“At bottom, the department will provide these benefits for both opposite-sex and same-sex domestic partners because it is the right thing to do,” Ms. Clinton says.

Among the benefits that will now be granted gay diplomats: the right of domestic partners to hold diplomatic passports, government-paid travel for their partners and families to and from foreign posts, and the use of U.S. medical facilities abroad.

In addition, gay diplomats' families will now be eligible for U.S. government emergency evacuations and training courses at the Foreign Service Institute, the message says. >>> Matthew Lee, Associated Press | Sunday, May 24, 2009